WRITERS ROOM | Letters for Zora

Introduction

Zora Neale Hurston wrote her masterwork, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in seven weeks and we took up this time frame for our NEA Big Read festival as a chal‐ lenge—to see what we, as a community, could create in response to this remarkable book.

The process of making Letters for Zora has been exhil‐ arating, time‐intensive, and deeply personal. In the same spirit, we invite you to explore the work in these pages, which represents some of the many ways ZNH continues to inspire us.

—RW, CRM, KK, AJ, VF and all of us at Writers Room

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Entries from Slam, Bam, Thank You Ma’am!

At the Pen & Pencil Club RuNett Ebo Gray The Horizon*

Early morning, waking up in the islands when the day says hello the sun against the blue sky is so mellow.

The blanket of blue meets the ocean two shades deeper but also blue That line that separates the two also joins earth and sky.

That line that disappears when a storm comes and the sky closes its big eye so you can’t see where the sky stops and ocean begins It can be scary to see but so is life The storm passes, and ocean kisses the sky again the line re‐appears and we can relax once more looking out from where water meets the shore. *theme: the horizon

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Norman Cain Confession**

Sadly, I Convinced myself To heave to “Come what may” Principles embedded within my essence by praying grandmothers.

Tuff love uncles The busy tongues of Villages who raised me to illuminate Like a brilliant full moon above the Dark sinful ways I’d embraced **words to use: principle, heaved, sinful

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Norman Cain

From Spark To Inferno*** So they enslaved us Beat us down to a Spark but the wind of perseverance Turned the spark into an inferno Fired us up to become Vesey, Toussaint, Harriet, Turner ‐ We sang “Go down Moses” “We shall overcome” Sculpted our dignity Created blood plasma Saved a waning agricultural South with multiple ways to use the peanut

*** “So they beat him down to nothin’ but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song” ‐Zora Neale Hurston

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Letter to Zora (excerpt) October 18, 2016 Dear Zora,

I apologize to you for the world not recognizing your craft to its fullest. It is a shame that great writers like you are not seen as special… until they are no longer with us. I wonder if you were alive, how you would react to the notoriety of your book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. I'm enjoying your classic... That's how the world defines your book...

Maybe, one day, I can be you... But I want to be able to feel the accolades. *

Of all of Janie's husbands, I liked Tea Cake. Though he was a gambler and a hustler, he was good to her. He also re‐ spected her potential to learn, so he taught her how to do things. For example he taught her to fish, hunt, dance, drive, play checkers, and even how to shoot a gun and a rifle. Her friend Phoebe discouraged her from being with Tea Cake, but how many of us listen to our friends, when we have al‐ ready made up our minds? The only thing I didn't like, was when his jealousy flared up and he decided to slap her around and abused her to prove a point, that didn't need to be proven because Janie loved him with all her heart. *

When the storm was coming and the Indians and the animals were going east, Janie and probably others in Eatonville be‐ lieved the Indians didn't know what they were doing or say‐ ing. I saw the pecking order of how other ethnic groups looked at each other’s sensibilities. But when they kept say‐ ing "De lake is coming," I imagined it to be like what a tsunami would look like. When Janie said, "Ole massa is doing his work now. Us oughta keep quiet," it reminded me of my grandmother and mother who always made us sit quiet and settle down when a storm was coming or was full blown. Zora, your phraseology throughout the book was wonderful. E.g. “The Sea was walking the earth with a heavy heel," was a wonderful adage.

Sincerely yours,

Victoria Huggins Peurifoy

Profound thanks to: Cheryl Wall, Antoine Mapp & the West Powelton Drummers, Darla, Cyrille Taillandier, Ryan Moys, Darren Walters, Nelson Eubanks & Evan Clayburg, Alejandro Cons, AdriĂĄn Arce, Nan Gilbert, Jen Britton, Sarah Steltz, Amy Wen, Dominique Coleman-Williams, Jerry Fuller, Andrew Issa, Cicely Peterson-Mangum, Lucy Kerman, Tara Alexis McCoy, David Unruh, Anika Warren, Patricia Austin, Catherine Murray, Matt Kaufhold, Pauline Nyren, Bill Rees, Tania Isaac, Allen Sabinson, Shivanthi Anandan, Patty West, A. Yemisi Jimoh, Andrea Abrams, Ed Pavlic, Brian Lofink, Amanda Abene, Onna Hepner, Danny Barron, Jonathan Deutsch, Suzanna Urminska, Jamie Bowers, Adam Feldman, Cynthia Ann Schemmer, Tyler Shine, Elise Ferer, Deb Ahrens, Lynn Haase, Debra Johnson, Mary Tasillo, Leslie Perrine, Eva Thury, Kathleen Volk Miller, Fred Siegel, Scott Warnock, Dan Driscoll, Janel McCloskey, andrĂŠ carrington, Richard Astro, Ira Taffer, Sarah Saxton, Cyndi Rickards, Donna Murasko.

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.

Writers Room is one of 77 not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant to host an NEA Big Read project between September 2016 and June 2017. The NEA presents NEA Big Read in partnership with Arts Midwest.